Shabbat Shalom

When in Rome, do like the Romans...

Since sundown yesterday until sundown today it has been what the Jewish call the Shabbat, the day of rest (and it is the name of the weekday Saturday). It is like the Sunday in Christian countries, but in very Jewish orthodox areas it is like Christmas Day (before the rise of capitalism). Nothing is open, buses don't run and any writing or handling of money is forbidden. What in the olden days was ban against starting a fire is now translated into modern terms of not dealing with electricity like switching lights, on or off. So if the lights are on when Shabbat starts you can't turn them off and they'll have to stay on until the end. There is also something called Shabbat elevators, where the elevator runs by itself and stops at every floor so the person riding it does not have to break the Shabbat by pushing a button. Smart, eh?

What is allowed during Shabbat is visit (friends & family), read (the Torah) and have sex, so I went down to the beach and visited Mother Ocean, read “Son of Hamas” by Mosab Hassan Yousef and masturbated. That was my two cents towards Judaism for today.